Welcome to the Multi Cultural United States

Today, the U.S. Census is expected to announce that the Hispanic population in United States will top 50 million and will account for most of the nation's population growth over the last decade.


Today in a Reuters report, D'Vera Cohn, a senior writer at the Pew Research Center think-tank, which has analyzed data from 48 states so far tallied, said  "This is a population that's young, whose growth is driven increasingly by births and not immigration. It's a population that's expanding into virtually every county of the country, and growing especially sharply in states where Latino's had not been a presence a decade or so ago."

Additional studies provide compelling reasons why the Hispanic youth will become the most important demographic segment in the United States -- maybe more important than the Boomers. According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at University of Georgia, Hispanics control more disposal income than any other minority group in the United States. And, the Department of Labor’s Survey of Consumer Expenditures shows Hispanics spend more than non-Hispanics on groceries, telephone services, clothing and gas.  

Because the fastest-growing segment of this U.S. Hispanic population is younger, and therefore grew up in the US, should we assume that they are more acculturated?  If so, companies will need to determine how to create multi cultural messaging and marketing that blends their Hispanic heritage with American iconic and cultural mores. But Hispanics are not a homogeneous group that can just be treated equally across 50 million consumers. Nielsen’s study of acculturation levels among Hispanics shows widely different perceptions among Hispanics of being “American”.

One thing we know for sure is that the U.S. Census report will show that the United States in 25 years will look remarkably different than the one 25 years ago.

Cyndi